~ THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL~

Winter Solstice 2012

In this Edition:

~ Get Hexed! ~

Support Hex! We are a community-supported not-for-profit publication. You can support us by heading to http://hexmagazine.com/subscribe/ and ordering magazines, CDs, and prints, and by spreading the word to all like-minded folk!

Hex will no longer be publishing as a biannual publication,
but issues 7, 8, 9, and 11 are still available and make for inspiring reading!
We also have copies of the acclaimed Hum of Ullr’s Bow CD and a selection of beautiful art prints.

Stay tuned for the Heathen Erotica edition, as well as a number of very special projects!

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Hex Folk Market (http://www.hexfolkmarket.com) is here! Join our online market community in celebration of folk ways and sustainable living. Browse through our selection of international merchants or set up your own shop for free!

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Feeling Hexy?

Hex is putting out an initial call for Heathen Erotica. For a side project, not a regular issue. It will be published when we get enough material.

Accepting submissions for stories, poetry, art, photography, recipes, whatever. You can submit under your own name or a nom de plume. The usual high standards of quality apply! IE: if it’s smut, it better be really good smut!

Recipe: Pecan Toffee

I made this dessert for a contest on Thanksgiving and won first prize (OK it was only amongst a few friends but still…). This is absolutely delicious. I recently saw another recipe that contained dried fruit and other nuts as well; have fun experimenting!

Instructions:
1. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add a tablespoon of butter then add your pecans to the pan. Toss around to coat in the oil and keep moving to help roast your pecans without burning them.
3. When your pecans begin to become fragrant and browned a bit, add your honey and maple syrup. Mix well.
4. Once your sugar begins to thicken just a little, add your butter and coconut cream concentrate. Keep mixing with a wooden spoon to make sure your coconut cream concentrate doesn’t burn.
5. Then add your cinnamon and nutmeg, vanilla, and salt.
6. When everything is well combined, turn burner on low and let simmer for about 3-4 minutes to thicken just a bit (it won’t get super thick, so don’t expect that).
7. While your mixture is thickening, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
8. Then pour your mixture into the parchment-lined tray and use a spoon to spread out the pecans throughout the mixture.
9. Place in the fridge and let chill for an hour or more. When you pull it from the fridge, it should be hardened but still chewy.
10. Use a knife to break it into pieces. You may need to scrape it off the paper with a spatula.
11. Store in the fridge until serving! Tastes particularly good with apple slices and a bit of whipped cream…

ENJOY!

Recipe adapted by Arrowyn Craban Lauer

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• Othala •

Old English Rune PoemÉþel (Homestead) is over-dear to each man,
if he may there justice and courtesies
enjoy in a mansion in frequent prosperity.

This as last year, for Winter Solstice I have drawn the Othala rune. This, as last year, the phrase “to be at home” comes to me immediately.

The world is changing more and more swiftly. We are called to attune and commune with that inner compass, that heart-acorn that beats in each of our chests. To ride this maelstrom we need to be more focused on truth than ever, yet also more willing to question the obvious. No simple or linear prescriptions for success, safety, or happiness.

This two-sidedness stands in distinction to the advice offered by most belief systems, which teach that we should cleave to inflexible truisms when confronted with the unknown, the challenging, the strange. But Othala is not a rune of dogma or articles of faith. It parts ways with such things.

Othala’s two-sidedness stands also in distinction to nihilistic isolation, contemporary mass culture’s preferred response to the unknown, the challenging, the strange. Othala is not a rune of iconoclasm, nihilism, or pessimism. It parts ways with such things.

“Home” goes beyond both the empty promises of dogma and the useless luxuries of cynicism. It awards peace and growth to those who are able to live with a light touch. Those who do not drown themselves in the coils of their own need for control. Those who regard their limitations and their convictions with a humorous irony.

Happiness cannot be guaranteed by what happens in the course of life. No one may predict the future; if my happiness is dictated by my worldly fortunes then I am in for a very difficult and unstable time. Othala, protected by the membrane of its Janus nature, offers a safe haven. In its arms we are relieved of the chaos of the existential rollercoaster.

The end of this year is coming, and that calls us to the birth of the next. It is a time for reflection. What cultivates the feeling of being home in your life? Go for more of that. What makes you feel isolated in your life? Time to let that go.

Our intentions seem to have a powerful role in shaping our futures – you tend to get what you look for. It follows that the simplest way to build a good psychological Othala is to look for the good in all things. Perhaps home awaits wherever we find ourselves, if only we would take the time to look.

Bringing Earth and Sky Together:
Three New Books by Siegfried Goodfellow

Siegfried Goodfellow’s poetic inspiration and deep wisdom have graced many issues of Hex Magazine. He has recently released in book form the compiled writings (up to 2011) on his blog, Heathen Ranter (http://wyrdmeginthew.blogspot.com).

Presenting 1500 pages in three volumes, Bringing Earth and Sky Together represents some of the most exciting and challenging contemporary Heathen material ever published ~ spanning essays, prayers, poems, provocations, proverbs, and much more.